About Him
by Lilith394
Summary: When Voldemort curses Hermione she suddenly gets teleported back in time, thrusting her into Lord Voldemort's seventh year at Hogwarts. How will she cope? What will she do?
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This story is based on a great song called About Him by Malcolm Mclaren. I've changed the female version to a male version because I think the lyrics fit in with my characterization of Tom Riddle. Hope you enjoy.

my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea

well no one told me about him

the way he lied

well no one told me about him

how many people cried

my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea

well no one told me about him

the way he lied

well no one told me about him

how many people cried

but it's too late to say you're sorry

how would I know

why should I care

please don't bother trying to find him

he's not there

my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea

well no one told me about him

well no one told me about him

how many people cried

but it's too late to say you're sorry

how would I know

why should I care

please don't bother trying to find him

he's not there

he's not there

Hermione was running. Running so hard her lungs felt raw and her legs were moving so fast she wasn't sure she was even controlling them anymore. She was fueled on pure adrenaline. Curses flew over her head, missing her by a hairsbreadth, but she wasn't focusing on them. Her mind was focused on running as quickly as she could possibly go. Survival, that was key. When you had nothing, people either survived through it or crumbled. Hermione was a survivor. So she kept on running.

The people behind her were relentless though, like the common theme in nightmares, as fast as she tried to run it wasn't fast enough to get away from the people chasing her.

Suddenly she fell. Her legs had been going so fast for so long she'd lost her stride, exhaustion was spreading through her limbs. She felt her body bind together and knew she'd been hit with a fully body bind as soon as she hit the ground.

"We got 'er! Summon the dark lord!" A male voice wheezed while taking in sharp breaths.

A few seconds later Hermione heard the whoosh of appparation. And instantly felt a chill down her spine and her hairs stand on edge, she know who it was before he even spoke.

"Well, well, well. You put up quite a fight, didn't you?" Lord Voldemort drawled, his voice making her hairs stand on edge. "Well, soon you'll be joining your dead friends"

Hermione slowly shuffled around and faced him, he was staring at her as though amused. And several death eaters were standing at his side. Hermione glared at him defiantly, and did what if he was alive Harry would have died laughing at.

"Go fuck yourself, snakeface" and she spat at him.

There was a collective gasp from his followers, while Voldemort roared, red eyes ablaze

"Crucio!"

As if in slow motion, Hermione saw the curse hit her chest and braced herself for the pain, but there was none,there was a flash of bright light and Hermione was teleported away.

Hermione was falling. She then hit the floor with a thud and felt her wrist snap, she let out a sharp gasp and tears rolled out of her eyes. _you've been through worse_, she told herself. Hermione was lying on the grass, but no death eaters were surrounding her, no Voldemort. She was in what looked like a forest, but not the same one she had been in moments ago. This one felt familiar in a different way. And it was nighttime now, whereas before it had been morning.

Hermione slowly tried to stand up, while cradling her arm to her chest. She then looked down as she felt something scorching her chest, she winced and peeled her necklace from her skin. She gasped,_ this was what had taken the brunt of the spell! _It was a charm Dumbledore had given to her shortly before he'd died, in the shape of a star. He told her that it was important she wore it at all times, so she had. She had no idea it would telaport her. But where had it teleported her to?

She took a raspy breath, the events of this past day were catching up on her, and walked to what looked like the clearing of the forest.

When she got out of the forest, she gasped loudly. She was at Hogwarts! And the castle was intact, not like the last time she'd seen it. Had she been taken back in time? How far?

She stumbled to the castle, it felt like the longest walk she'd ever taken. Just as she was about to push open the doors, someone came out. It was Dumbledore. But much younger. Hermione's body and mind had had enough for one day, and she promptly fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

She heard voices around her but couldn't pick up on what they were saying. She felt like she was floating, it was a nice feeling, she wasn't in pain. _Pain. Harry. Ron. No!_ Suddenly she felt herself falling, faster and faster and then a sudden drop and it was as if a spell had been lifted. She woke with a start, sitting up suddenly, only to see two worried faces staring at her.

She took in her surroundings. The room was bright, very well lit and instantly recognizable. The sterile smell and uncomfortable bed was a dead giveaway, she was in the Hogwarts hospital wing. And staring at her was a stern faced mediwitch and a young, very much alive, Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione gaped at him. _ .Hell._ She stared at him for several moments before the mediwitch cleared her throat, "Hello, what is your name?" She enquired, she had a nasaly voice.

"H-hermione." She stuttered, wondering who this woman was. Wondering why she was in Hogwarts, when Hogwarts had been destroyed. Wondering why a young, red-haired Dumbledore was standing in front of her with that ever present twinkle in his eyes.

How was this possible?

"I don't understand, what's going on? is this some kind of sick joke? am I dead?" Hermione began to cry, ignoring the growingly worried faces of the two people in front of her. The past day had officially caught up with her. This was too much.

"Madam Watson, I believe I need a minute alone with dear Hermione." Dumbledore said kindly.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, do we even know who she is? And she's clearly unstable-" The nurse ranted, much to Hermione's irritation.

"I think I have an idea who she is, and I need to speak with her of the utmost urgency." Hermione had forgotten how Dumbledore without raising his voice could get people to obey or listen with ease.

The nurse harrumphed, but it was clear she wasn't going to argue it any further. She drew the curtain around Hermione and Dumbledore and walked away. Dumbledore cast a silencing charm around the curtain.

Hermione stared at him intently, trying to judge the situation "What's going on?" she said quietly.

Dumbledore leant forward and fingered the slightly melted pendant on Hermione's chest. "Hermione, I believe something terrible must have happened," Dumbledore started with a sigh "You see, the necklace you are wearing is a possession of mine, it possesses very strong magic, magic that can transport through time when the wearer is severely injured or on the brink of death. The only way you would have come about this necklace is if I had given it to you, since I am unaware of doing so I can only conclude that myself, from the future, must have. There must have been very dire circumstances in that time to warrant me doing so, as meddling with such powerful magic us very unwise." Dumbledore crossed his hands and smiled sadly at Hermione.

Hermione's heart started to beat quickly. I've gone back in time. How far?

"What year is it, sir?" Hermione asked shakily, not believing him. Believing this to be a sick joke that Voldemort planted inside her head.

"It's 1944, what year are you from?" Hermione gasped loudly as soon as he uttered the words 1944. Why would this have happened? it doesn't make sense that a tiny little necklace could possess more powers than a time turner! And she told him so, as well as what year she's from and he looked genuinely surprised.

"Ah, it's very complicated magic...and there is far too little information about it. All I can say is that a friend of mine, who is sadly deceased now, gave this necklace to me. So I have no information other than what I've been told, that it's able to transport people. My friend did tell me that the necklace was able to see what the heart desired, and send them back to that time. Who knows? it's all speculation." He finished cryptically. Eyeing Hermione with pity. Hermione hated to see that aimed towards her. What her heart desired, though? Her heart desired to have her friends back! her life back.

She hated all this. It was just her luck that she'd be landed in this situation. She'd lost enough as it was, could she not have been left to die in peace? _No Hermione, you don't mean that. You've got to keep on fighting. For Harry, For Ron. For all of them._

What was she going to do now? she was starting to believe Dumbledore's story, but what did that mean for her?

"Can I go back?" She dreaded the answer she knew she was going to get.

"Not that I know of, going forwards in time is unheard of." Hermione let out a shuddering breath at his words. So she was stuck here, then? Forever? she'd never exist in the future, she'd be a ghost floating through time.

"What am I supposed to do here? There's a war in the future that I should be fighting in!" She exclaimed.

Dumbledore looked faintly alarmed, she imagined he was worried that the war would be going on between Grindlewald so many years into the future. She hastily said "Not with Grindlewald, there's another dark wizard in my time."

"I see." Dumbledore stared off into space for a few seconds before coming to "Hermione, as curious as I am about this dark wizard and the war in your time, I think it would be detrimental to our timeline if I knew anything."

"I understand, sir. But you still haven't answered my question, what am I supposed to do now?" She said, trying to keep calm.

"The only thing I can think of is that you stay at Hogwarts and finish your studies, we could say that you are a distant relative of mine and have come to Hogwarts to escape the current war."

Hermione mulled this over. If she was really stuck in the past, which she was still struggling to wrap her head around, the best option for her would be to stay at Hogwarts where she was safe. Not to mention Hogwarts' library, there must be countless books on time travel and the theory of it. Hermione was becoming more eager by the second. This just might not be so bad.

Dumbledore left shortly afterwards, telling her to get some rest and he'd come back tomorrow morning. Hermione was about to take the potion when there was a commotion in the hospital wing. "Lestrange had an unfortunate accident, didn't you? He fell off his broom into the Whomping Willow and broke his arm and was scratched by the tree. I'm sure you'll be able to mend him up in no time, Madam Watson." The voice charmed. It was silky and well spoken, but not pretentiously so. Hermione thought his voice was perfectly fine, so couldn't determine why the voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. She peeked around the curtain and nearly dropped the vile of sleeping draught. It was Tom Riddle, she'd recognize that face anywhere. She'd scoured the student records in her second year looking for Riddle and found an immensely handsome, dark haired beauty. It was shocking how someone so rotten on the inside could be so utterly breathtakingly gorgeous on the outside.

Hermione grabbed her wand and considered cursing him on the spot, but no, that wouldn't do. Hermione put her wand back and stared at him through angry narrowed eyes. She couldn't change the past too much, her interacting with people and living in this timeline was bad enough. Killing Tom Riddle would be detrimental. She had killed before, Hermione thought with a hint of guilt, for her friends she was willing to do anything though. Ending her depressing thoughts she went back to bed and waited until she heard the voices leave. She didn't feel comfortable sleeping while Tom Riddle was a few meters from her. Hermione downed the draught and within seconds she was falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next day Dumbledore came to fetch her, and she was feeling much better rested and after having a good hearty meal in the hospital wing (which she hadn't had in months) she found herself walking down the corridor with Dumbledore, on the way to Headmaster Dippet's office. As she entered the Headmaster's office, she noted how different it was to the office in her time. None of Dumbledore's weird and wonderful contraptions were dotted around over his desk, Dippet's desk was very clean and almost clinical. The man behind the table fitted this nicely. He was a skinny man with a severe face and perfectly clean and ironed Robes. "Ah, Albus, how nice to see you. And I see you've brought Hermione, your distant relative didn't you say? ah, nice to meet you, nice to meet you." He shook Hermione's hand firmly. "We'd better get you sorted into your house then, shouldn't we?" He summoned the sorting hat, which looked exactly the same as in her time, just as dirty and worn. Hermione tried to act like a newbie to sorting hats. "A sorting hat?" she said faux anxiously "How does that work?"

"Ah, no need to worry Miss Dumbledore, it's a very complex piece of magic. You simply put the hat on your head, the hat will then decide which house you go in. Very simple" He seemed in a rush to get this over with.

Hermione sat down and placed the hat on her head.

_Ah, now, I'll need you to lower your shields for me to place you._

_No, I can't do that I'm afraid._

_Hmmm...I can't sort you unless you lower them..._

_Can't you just put me in Gryffindor?_

_Not unless you lower your shields..._

Hermione thought about it for a few seconds then reluctantly lowered them.

_From the future, you are? how interesting, very interesting._

_Can you just put me in Gryffindor so we can get this over with?_ Hermione thought harshly.

_No, I think Gryffindor would make you unable to do what you are here to do. _

**_SLYTHERIN!_**

Hermione sat there, shocked into silence as she slowly removed the sorting hat. And what exactly am I here to do, then?

Dippet laughed at her facial expression "Not keen on Slytherin, are we? Not to worry, they're an excellent house. Now I'm most busy, so I'll see you soon Miss Dumbledore." He smiled shortly and then turned to the paper on his desk.

Hermione turned to Dumbledore grimly and he smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

As they exited the headmasters office, Dumbledore turned to her and asked "So I take it you were not a Slytherin when you were here?" he smiled.

"No! Definitely not. I'm a proud Gryffindor!" Hermione groaned and Dumbledore chuckled "What am I going to do?" she sighed

Dumbledore just tapped her shoulder uselessly. Hermione wondered where they were going to, until they approached the dungeons and she sighed. He took her to Slughorns office.

After a knock on his door a much younger, less fat, Slughorn came out. "Ah, who do we have here then?" He grinned at Hermione.

"This is a distant relative of mine, Hermione Dumbledore, she's been sorted into Slytherin." Dumbledore said.

"Ah, how wonderful! A Dumbledore in Slytherin! Come in, come in!" He seemed genuinely surprised but very happy. Hermione knew he liked having people with influential or powerful family members in his Slug Club, it's clearly the same for his house.

Dumbledore left with a fond smile and a twinkle in his eye. Clearly he didn't care she was sorted into Slytherin, she was strangely relieved at that. Maybe it was because she didn't want to loose her only ally in this time.

Slughorn gave her a few tests to do to determine what classes she'd be taking. And so it begun.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, thank you for the reviewing this story so far, all reviews are greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Hermione apparently passed the test with flying colors. "One of the best scores I've ever seen! Rivals our current Head Boy, Tom Riddle, great young man he is..." Slughorn continued singing Tom Riddle's praises while bile rose in her throat. It was going to be very hard to be in the same castle as the young Lord Voldemort without showing fear or pure unadulterated hatred. Hermione was going to have to work on being civil towards him, or her cover was blown, as by the sounds of it he was exceedingly popular, charismatic, intelligent and a very handsome young man. She didn't want to draw attention to herself by seemingly needlessly hating him. Especially since she was a Slytherin, she groaned inwardly at that thought.

Hermione'd been making noncommittal sounds at Slughorn's praises of Tom Riddle, and was trying to hide her desperation to get away, when there was a knock at the door.

"Ah, this should be him now! Come in!" Slughorn bellowed.

The door opened and in walked Tom Riddle. Hermione took a sharp intake of breath that Slughorn clearly misinterpreted as a reaction to his beauty and not of horror at being in the same room as Lord Voldemort if the sly wink he gave Riddle was any indication. The way he walked in oozed power and confidence, his deep grey eyes assessed her without any indication of malice, only curiosity. Hermione carefully watched his expression change as Slughorn told Riddle she was a Dumbledore, there was a slight twitch in his left eye and an emotion he hid too quickly for her to recognize before he schooled his features into surprise and happiness "How wonderful, a Dumbledore in Slytherin and in seventh year, like me. I'd be more than happy to show you around, Miss Dumbledore." He gave her a winning smile, which she was sure many girls fell prey to, but she just nodded her head slightly and tried not to look too annoyed. Hermione guessed she failed at the confused and somewhat annoyed glint in his eyes, which was also quickly hidden.

After Slughorn introduced them both he gave Hermione her timetable and a list of things she needed to buy for school. Hermione panicked slightly "I don't have any money sir, um-" Hermione quickly tried to come up with an excuse "My parents have died, and I don't have access to any money they might have left me behind as I have fled my country." It wasn't all a lie, her parents had been killed so she didn't feel too guilty.

Unfortunately for her, Tom Riddle was here to listen to her story. He gave her a look of deep concern to which she nearly rolled her eyes at "I'm so sorry, Miss Dumbledore. That must have been awful. Are you not from England then? I thought the Dumbledore's were English?" He said innocently enough but Hermione had the terrible feeling he suspected her of lying._ He can't have._..she tried to convince herself.

"Yes, I'm from England but we moved to France when I was a child." Hermione tried to keep as vague as possible, the more she spun a web of lies the more likely she was to get tangled in it.

Tom just nodded his head, and Slughorn answered Hermione's original question "We can give you an allowance since you're an orphan, not to worry dear." He smiled at her sympathetically and gave her a small pouch of coins.

"Tom, why don't you show Miss Dumbledore down to Hogsmeade?" He said with another infuriating wink.

"Um, no it's fine I can manage." Hermione said quickly, she didn't want to be lumbered with Voldemort when she was buying a few new pairs of knickers. Not to mention spending any more time with him than she absolutely had to was out of the question.

Slughorn relented and let Hermione walk out of his office while Tom started talking to him about some sort of letter he needed. Hermione ignored it and tried not to slam the door behind her.

Hogsmeade was completely different to when she was at school. There were a lot of shops that she could buy school equipment and uniform from and a little crooked shop at the end of the street that sold old books. Hermione could have spent all her money in there but she refrained and just bought the school books she needed as well as some light reading material. She went into a shop that sold clothes and found she dearly missed her jeans and hoodies. Before she'd left the hospital wing Dumbledore had obviously got someone to give her some 1940's clothing so she didn't look out of place in her jeans. So Hermione bought a few more outfits as well as her uniform, which consisted of a black dress (Hermione groaned at the sight of it) which came down to below her knees, some hideous black shoes (If Hermione thought they were hideous, they really must be) and her Slytherin robes, Hermione cringed as she tried them on. She picked up a few more bits and pieces and then found she was ready to start school.

Heading back to the castle Hermione was surprised and annoyed to bump into Tom Riddle just as she walked through the front doors. He shot her another winning smile, and she tried to return it but feared it just ended up as a grimace. If the look on his face was anything to go by she was probably right. "Is everything ok?" he asked, concerned, with his eyebrows knitted together. He looked even more beautiful if that was possible, and up close his skin looked like porcelain._ Hermione! Stop admiring Lord Voldemort!_ Her inner voice cursed. He seemed satisfied that she was admiring him, she noted.

"I'm fine, thanks." The Dumbledore girl grumbled. From the minute he met her it seemed as though this girl just didn't like him. Tom was annoyed to say the least at that. Who couldn't like him? he was perfect after all. He didn't let his annoyance seep through though and gave her his best comforting smile.

"I'll show you to our common room and then you can pack your things away" He said kindly. She slightly inclined her head but other than that gave him no indication she heard him. Insolent girl! All other girls would be falling at his feet to spend some time with him, but it seemed as though this girl just wasn't affected by his charm. How odd. He continued to study her in silence as they walked to the Slytherin common room.

Hermione was aware that he was staring at her. Had she failed at being nice to him? Well, this was as nice as it was going to get, she thought with a huff. And walked along side him through the dungeons. She hated the dungeons, they were so gloomy and depressing. She craved the colorful redness, and buzzing atmosphere of the Gryffindor house. Not this. Hermione bit her lip in thought.

Soon they neared an insignificant looking stone wall. But it seemed to have some significance as Riddle stopped in front of it and said "Pureblood", to which she wrinkled her nose in disgust, and then the stones started to recede leading to a elegantly sculptured door, with snakes carved around the edges. Riddle opened the door and Hermione entered the Slytherin common room. Her first thought was that it was very dark, and green. There were several leather sofas dotted around the room, and once Riddle entered several young men stood from the one by the fireplace. The way they were looking at him with fear mingled with respect led her to believe that these were his followers. She cringed. Riddle didn't notice though as he had just cleared his throat. Immediately everyone went silent and turned to her and Riddle. Looks of adoration gleamed on the faces of most of the girls, and admiration on the boys. She received looks of curiosity.

"Everyone, I'm delighted to introduce you to Hermione Dumbledore, she's just joined our school and has been sorted into Slytherin. I hope you'll give her a warm welcome."

There were a few smiles at her now, which she tried to return. Riddle walked to a girl, and mumbled something to her, to which she looked like she was going to faint. She giggled at him and nodded her head, then she looked at Hermione and beckoned her over.

"Hello, Hermione. I'm Anne Nott" She shook Hermione's hand. Anne had dark hair and dark eyes, with a plump red lips. She was quite pretty, Hermione thought, she seemed to like Riddle. But she thought that with his looks and the fact that everyone, except maybe his followers, were ignorant of what he was really like she had no reason not to. "Tom just asked me to show you to your room, as you're new." she said while staring adoringly after Riddle. Hermione almost rolled her eyes but surpressed it and instead nodded "Thank you" she smiled.

Alice showed Hermione to her dorm. It was more or less exactly the same as her Gryffindor dorm, except everything was green and silver. There was a window, and it showed underneath the black lake. Hermione was a bit unnerved about that. Alice didn't pick up on Hermione's discomfort as she hastily said "Hope you like the room, my beds just across from you. See you later" she said and turned without a backwards glance. Hermione sat on her bed and sighed. Why did this happen to her? She mused quietly, fiddling with a bit of lint on her dress.

She was overcome with a wave of tiredness, so she drew her curtains around her bed and lay down. Within seconds she was asleep, the last thing she thought of before sleep took her was a pair of beautiful grey eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione slept the rest of the day and through the night. She'd been exhausted, but felt much better when she woke the following morning. Hermione could hear voices whispering around her and instantly grabbed her wand which she kept under her pillow, her war reflexes kicking into action, but when she realized where she was, in her dorm room, she relaxed slightly. Hermione opened her curtains and four girls stopped talking and turned to stare at her.

"Hello, I'm Hermione" she said, trying a light and cheerful tone of voice, even though she felt anything but.

The girls perked up at her seemingly good mood, Alice Nott introduced the three other girls. There was Violet Macmillan a small girl with bright blue eyes, Kirsty Jones who had bright blonde hair and a kind face and Walburga Black...Hermione gasped when she saw her, who she knew as the shrieking portrait in Grimmauld Place, Walburga had severe features and a stern face, even for someone so young. It was very strange seeing her in the flesh. Hermione couldn't stop staring.

"Do I have something on my face? Stop staring!" Walburga snapped at Hermione, who blushed slightly and stuttered her apologies.

"Ignore Walburga, she's not a morning person. How are you, Hermione? I know it must all be so strange and new coming to the school late and all." Violet said nicely, saving Hermione from Walburga's wrath.

She smiled thankfully and said "Thanks, I'm fine but quite tired."

"Well you better get dressed quickly or you'll be late for classes!" Walburga snapped and walked out of the dorm with her nose in the air.

Violet rolled her eyes "As I said, ignore her. But you probably should get dressed, you don't want to be late for your first Housewitch class."

Hermione frowned, _housewitch class?_ "What is housewitch class?"

Violet gasped "Haven't you had Housewitch classes? whatever school did you go to before! Housewitch classes teach women how to cook, clean and live their lives looking after their husbands and children."

Hermione gaped. Of course, the feminist movement hadn't come into action yet. Hermione thought it was barbaric that women were being taught such things, and wasn't sure how she was going to deal with that particular class.

Hermione still hadn't put away her shopping so her things were still in the bags, she rummaged through them for her uniform and books and hurried into the bathroom to change so she wouldn't be late. Not that she minded being late for such a ridiculous class.

When Hermione got out of the bathroom she saw Violet waiting for her, Violet smiled and said "I thought I ought to show you to your first class, we don't want you getting lost now do we?" With a smile she led Hermione out of the dorm. They walked through the common room, and Hermione tried pretend she didn't see the smile Tom Riddle gave her, and continued walking to her first class.

Hermione entered the classroom and saw a rather old looking woman, who was very tall and had salt and pepper hair in a very neat bun, with glasses low on her nose, and looked at everyone up and down sternly as they walked in. When Hermione walked past her desk the woman slammed her hand down on the table, hard. And stared at Hermione.

"And what is this?" The woman picked up a strand of Hermione's hair in disgust "Your hair looks like a loo brush!" With a pang Hermione noticed several Gryffindors sniggering, and it was the Slytherin's glaring at them for it. "And on your first day, you make this impression." The woman tutted and sent her over to her seat, the only free one which was next to Walburga, who looked down her nose at Hermione.

"That disgraceful student is new to our school, Hermione Dumbledore. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore was positively disgusted to see such a display of carelessness of appearance." She tutted again "Miss Dumbledore, I am Professor Smythe and I am your Housewitch Class teacher. I hope by the time your stay at this school has ended, I'll have transformed you into a new woman. Now class, open your book to page 327..."

Hermione glared defiantly at Professor Smythe and tried to tone out the lesson. A first for Hermione, but she really didn't care for such rubbish. She picked up parts of what the teacher was saying like "You should always groom yourselves for your husband" and "If your husband tells you to do something, you do it!"and gave up on listening through the entirety of the class. When the lesson was over, she grabbed her bag and trudged to the library for her free period. That lesson had put her in such a bad mood, that when she saw Tom Riddle walk over to her she sighed loudly.

"Is everything alright?" He asked with a frown.

"I just had Professor Smythe, so..." she gave a lopsided smile and kept reminding herself to be nice to him.

He perked up and gave her a wicked grin "Ah, I see. A lesson with her is bound to put anyone in a bad mood." he said with a laugh. Girls walking past turned to glare at Hermione, clearly jealous that she made their Prince laugh. Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes at them, but she had to admit, even his laugh was breathtakingly beautiful. She wasn't fooled though, she knew who he really was.

Hermione put on her most realistic laugh in reply, but could tell he wasn't exactly fooled with the look he gave her which was quickly masked with his usual pleasant, angel like facade.

"I'm just going to the library, see you soon" and before he had a chance to reply she turned and walked into the library.

The library was practically empty so she was able to get one of the best seats at the back by a huge window overlooking the grounds. She was next to the restricted section. Hermione needed to get in there to have a look to see books about the charmed necklace. It was important that she could gather as much information about it as possible. Hermione easily put down the wards and started her search in the time travel section.

Ten minutes later, she had pulled out several books and was scanning another one when a voice whispered in her ear "You're not supposed to be here" causing goosebumps to raise on her neck, she was about to make a grab for her wand, but a few beats later realized it was Tom Riddle and slowly turned around, her face inches away from his. She could see that his eyes weren't grey, but very light blue, and they had flecks of darker blue in them. She could feel his breath on her face and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge, in a pleasant way. Realizing this was Lord Voldemort's presence that was giving her pleasant feelings, she pushed him away, narrowly missing the anger in his eyes as she did this and picked up her books "I didn't realize I couldn't be in here, sorry." and turned away. He didn't follow her. Hermione thought that perhaps since him being nice wasn't working, he'd try to charm her instead. _Well_, Hermione thought firmly, _it's not going to work with me._


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione had scanned a few of the books she found but it was futile; there was nothing on the necklace. There wasn't even anything on the theory of other objects being able to make you travel in time, and definitely nothing about her hearts desire having anything to do with the location you end up at. Hermione was stumped. She needed to have a wider search, she thought about the book shop in Hogsmeade but realized the selection of books wasn't vast enough, she needed to go somewhere that had vast knowledge on subjects like time travel...Hermione had a light-bulb moment, what about Knockturn Alley? There must be books there on almost everything! She thought excitedly. Although Knockturn Alley was dodgy as hell, there were definitely a vast array of books there on all subjects, no matter how strange. Not to mention nobody would question her coming out of a shop with tonnes of time traveling books. She just had to get permission to go there, she'd go to Dumbledore later on today.

Hermione checked her watch and realized with a start that she was almost late for her second lesson. She quickly put back her books and ran out of the library and through the corridors to her potions classroom.

The class were going into the classroom just as she rounded the corridor.

Hot and sweaty from running, and her hair wild and out of control, she came panting into the classroom. Slughorn chuckled at her appearance "Running late were we? Not to worry, you're here now. Take a seat." He smiled fondly at her and then hit his head as if remembering something "Ah, Hermione, I forgot to ask you. See, I have this little club for all of my most promising students, and I would like to invite you to join."

The Slug Club? She wondered how long it would take Slughorn to invite her, seeing as she was a Dumbledore and apparently with intelligence rivaling Tom Riddle's.

"Of course, I'd love to. Thank you for inviting me." She put on a happy smile, which Slughorn returned and walked to the only available seat; the one next to Tom Riddle.

"Hello, Hermione." He said in quite a seductive voice. Since when did they get on first name basis? She frowned at him and mumbled her greetings then listened to Slughorn prattle on about something or other.

She felt his angry glare in the side of her head but ignored him. Obviously he was becoming annoyed that she wasn't falling victim to his charm.

How dare the little bitch ignore him. Come to think of it, since she's been here... why wasn't she falling for his charm? he'd wondered several times why he was even bothering, and he supposed the answer to that was relatively simple, she hadn't fallen for him and that was incredibly unusual. Even all of the Gryffindor girls swooned when he so much as looked in their direction. What was so different with this girl? Even girls who liked girls at least wanted to be friends with him, but she just didn't seem interested. The only logical explanation would be that Dumbledore, the meddling old fool that he was, had poisoned her against him

before he had time to work his charm. He didn't have a good relationship with the girl's distant relative, to put it mildly. Dumbledore positively hated him, and the feeling was mutual. He stared at her angrily while trying to figure her out.

The angry stare was getting on Hermione's nerves now "Is something the matter?" she asked impatiently, glaring at him.

"No, nothing at all." He said and pretended to focus on the lesson, only she saw an angry frown on his face.

The rest of the day past by slowly, the time seeming to crawl by since she really wanted to go and see Dumbledore to ask him about the Knockturn Alley trip.

Hermione had just finished ancient runes and was on her way to the great hall for her dinner when she was approached by a very handsome young man who she recognized as one of Tom Riddles cronies. He had quite long dark brown curly hair and bright blue eyes which twinkled in mischief. He had to be related to Sirius, she thought and felt a warm fondness for him, even though she'd never spoken to him in her life, though the fact that he was probably a Death Eater or soon will be put a damper on her fondness.

"Hello, Miss Dumbledore. Would you care to sit next to me today?" His voice was warm and deep "I'm Orion Black, by the way" He added with a kind smile.

"Hello Orion, yes I will, thank you." she returned his smile as he took her arm and led her to the Great Hall. Eyes followed her as she was led to the Slytherin table, most were envious stares from the girls. Hermione wondered that Orion must be quite the catch. It wasn't surprising considering his looks, although he was no match for Tom Riddle. She cursed herself for finding him attractive, but she did, it couldn't be helped. One of the darkest wizards to walk the earth looked like a god when he was a teenager. The more disturbing thing was, why was she comparing everyone to Riddle?

Hermione sat down and saw that she was sat two seats away from Riddle, and he was looking at Orion through narrowed eyes, she supposed that if Orion would have noticed he'd have been quaking in his boots. But instead he was chatting merrily with her, without a care in the world it seemed. Hermione learnt that he was a big fan of DADA, which wasn't really much of a surprise since he was probably one of Riddle's followers, and he was also big on Quiddich. Hermione was trying to remember if Sirius's dad was Orion, or if he was Bellatrix's dad. She wasn't sure, though she hoped it wasn't the latter.

Hermione finished up her dinner quickly and excused herself, Orion waved at her and Tom Riddle nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement, even though she wasn't talking to him. She turned on her heel, ignoring him, and walked towards Dumbledore's office, but intercepted him on the way.

"Hello, professor!" she called, and he turned around and smiled at her, eyes twinkling.

"How was your first day, Hermione?" He asked with a smile.

"Good, thank you...I was wondering if I would be able to go to Knockturn alley soon-" Hermione and Dumbledore had no idea that just around the corner Tom Riddle was listening intently "-About for research about that necklace."

A necklace? why would she need to go to Knockturn Alley for a necklace? It must be something really shady, perhaps some kind of cursed necklace. He'd heard of such things in several dark arts books he'd read. Why would Dumbledore be in on it then? He's all for the 'light', Tom rolled his eyes at that. What a pathetic excuse for a wizard, and he's supposed to defeat Grindlewald? Tom shook his head and listened to what Dumbledore would say.

The old man stroked his beard and looked at Hermione with deep concern and said something about not wanting her to go to such a place on her own...they continued chatting but it wasn't clear what was being said. Tom strained his ears and then saw the old man nod and whispered something about going in the Christmas holidays. Hmmm...unless she stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas that was going to be an issue for Tom, but she did say she was an orphan so she probably would be. Tom smiled evilly. Looks like he'll be following a certain Dumbledore girl to Knockturn Alley this Christmas.


End file.
